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Sid Meier's Pirates! Review

James Dyer

14 Dec 2004 13:57Last updated: 9 Oct 2015 17:45

Release date3 Dec 2004

DeveloperAtari

The real pirates of the Caribbean

★★★★★

Piracy is a crime - do not accept it. Unless, of course, you're playing this little exercise in high seas robbery. Perfectly capturing a life of pillaging on the ocean wave, Sid Meier's Pirates! places you in the heart of the Caribbean as a recently recruited privateer and lets you seek riches and infamy among the shipping lanes of the New World.

The gameplay is simplicity itself but, as with Sid Meier's Civilization, it's fiendishly addictive and will send countless hours of your life to Davey Jones' locker as you raid Spanish colonies, liberate frigates of their bullion and try to woo governors' daughters with your scoundrelly charms. With endless replay value, almost total freedom and a suitably salty sense of humour, this is the only act of piracy we'll recommend this year.